Lewis Downing
[citation needed] Downing worked to heal divisions in the tribe following removal to the Indian Territory and the American Civil War.
[citation needed] When he was a young man, Downing and his family went west during the forced removal of the Cherokee and their slaves, now known as the Trail of Tears.
[citation needed]The historian John Bartlett Meserve wrote, "Reports of his [Downing's] spiritual activities reach back to 1842 when he was but nineteen years of age.
On August 3, 1844, he was unanimously chosen pastor of the Flint Baptist Church, succeeding the Reverend Jesse Bushyhead who had died shortly before.
"[4] The young minister was a strong participant in Cherokee Nation politics and as such was elected senator from Goingsnake District on August 4, 1845.
[citation needed] Chief Ross agreed to an alliance with the Confederacy and the Cherokee formed the majority of the Indian cavalry.
[citation needed] Lewis Downing was named chaplain of companies F and S of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles, which was formed by Chief Ross for the Confederate Army on October 4, 1861.
[5] With the advance of the Union forces into the Territory in July 1862, and the departure of Chief Ross for Philadelphia under growing tribal tensions, the cavalry's members began to waver in their allegiance to the South.
[citation needed] They and those who were pro-Union formed dual governments in the Cherokee Nation, each striving to control its political affairs.
Tom Pegg took over as acting chief, and their National Council in early 1863 reflected the Emancipation Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln.
Lewis Downing assisted in leadership, serving as the third (in succession) acting principal chief of the Union Cherokee in John Ross' absence in Washington, D.C.
Lewis Downing, as president of the pro-Union tribal council, went to Washington in 1863 to alert the government to the divided situation of the Cherokee.
After the war, a preliminary intertribal peace conference with the United States commissioners was held at Fort Smith on September 8, 1865.
It was at this meeting that Downing protested against the refusal of the commissioners to accord recognition to John Ross as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee.
[4] The Downing party controlled the political affairs of the Cherokee Nation until Statehood in 1908, except for the tenure of chief Dennis W. Bushyhead from 1879 to 1887.
He died in office at Tahlequah, on November 9, 1872, after a two-week battle with pneumonia, and is buried in the old Ned Adair cemetery in what is today Mayes County, Oklahoma.
